A spotlight on the drone wars

Saturday

Oct 19, 2013 at 12:20 PMOct 19, 2013 at 3:01 PM

While some of the initial grousing over President Obama’s nomination of Jeh Johnson to head the Department of Homeland Security points to his lack of credentials on border security, the most interesting part of his confirmation hearings will be his own field of expertise: He’s an architect of Obama’s drone strategy, and Obama’s chief adviser on targeted assassinations, the prosecution of terrorist suspects and the end-game for the war on terror.

There are myriad problems at DHS: morale, confusion, a depleted management corps. I don’t know if Johnson is the guy to straighten them all out (our editorial here). But he’s reputed to be a serious thinker about terrorism and national security, and the country needs a serious discussion about those things.

Rick Holmes

While some of the initial grousing over President Obama’s nomination of Jeh Johnson to head the Department of Homeland Security points to his lack of credentials on border security, the most interesting part of his confirmation hearings will be his own field of expertise: He’s an architect of Obama’s drone strategy, and Obama’s chief adviser on targeted assassinations, the prosecution of terrorist suspects and the end-game for the war on terror.

There are myriad problems at DHS: morale, confusion, a depleted management corps. I don’t know if Johnson is the guy to straighten them all out (our editorial here). But he’s reputed to be a serious thinker about terrorism and national security, and the country needs a serious discussion about those things.